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I remember when the squadron I was in had some folks who refused to deploy because GWB was “selected, not elected”. They were given a choice: deploy to Saudi, or deploy to jail. They chose Saudi.

Military cohesion overrides free speech, The military protects democracy, but it does not practice it.

The problem as I see it stems from the fact that he created a political FB page “Armed Forces Tea Party” and also posted similar comments on a non political FB meteorology page that was created for and used by his fellow military meteorologists for the purpose of discussing meteorology.

While I may not disagree with the gist of what he said, Sgt. Stein did not IMO use good judgment in expressing his opinions and did not do so as a private citizen given the forums he chose on which to express those opinions.

Look at it another way. If a Marine had done something similar when GWB was president, publicly posting anti-GWB posts questioning the legitimacy of his presidency saying Bush stole the election from Gore and questing whether he is bound to follow orders as a result, most of us would feel it correct for him to get the boot. Or similarly, if I work for Company XYZ and create a FB page under my own name identifying myself as a Company XYZ employee, “Company XYZ Sucks” and post comments like “my boss is an incompetent jerk and our products are crap” (even if my boss is an incompetent jerk and our products are crap), I shouldn’t be all that surprised to get canned for saying so.

Sgt. Stein is not prohibited as a private citizen even while serving, from expressing a private opinion, voting as he chooses, contribute as a private citizen to whatever causes or political parties he wants to, but doing so while in uniform, starting or promoting a political club or movement while identifying one’s self as an active member of the military is a different matter.

Pentagon directives say military personnel in uniform cannot sponsor a political club; participate in any TV or radio program or group discussion that advocates for or against a political party, candidate or cause; or speak at any event promoting a political movement.

When and if Sgt. Stein is actually faced with obeying what he truly feels is an unlawful order, he should take his concerns up the chain of command first and if he feels so strongly about an order, he can always resign under his conscience.